At Woodies, we are keen love God's creation and our People + Planet group is key in helping us to reduce our impact on the environment as a church. Throughout 2020, we want to challenge everyone in church to do the same - so each month we’ll be having an EcoChallenge.
March 2020: EcoChallege
Eat less meat (& dairy too)
This month’s EcoChallenge is to try out a new Meat/Dairy Free recipe. You’ve probably noticed that eating vegan or plant based foods and diets are having a bit of a moment now. This isn’t a fad - there are a lot of good reasons for this!
Eating Less meat and dairy is good for the planet
It needs much less land to grow crops to feed humans, than to grow crops to feed to animals which are then fed to humans. This means through reducing our meat consumption we could more easily meet the demands of feeding a growing global population and also allow more space for nature too. Moreover, cows and sheep belch out lots of methane, a particularly potent greenhouse gas. Emissions from livestock account for 14-18% of global man-made greenhouse emissions. Significantly reducing the amount of animal foods we consume has a key role to play in limiting the damage of climate change.It’s good for you
Typical western diets high in red-meat, processed meat and other animal products are not very good for us. Meat also takes up space in our diets where we could get wider nutritional benefit from eating other sources of protein such as beans, pulses or nuts.It’s good for animals
Modern industrial farming methods have developed to meet our demand for meat and dairy, and it is extremely debateable whether animals are generally treated in a humane way. Some would argue that an unnacceptable degree of suffering is inherent when we farm animals for food.
Easy Ways to Change Your Diet
Now we hear from David from the Woodies People + Planet group, who has some great advice for us….
Reducing the amount of meat that I eat is something I have been working on for some years now. I haven’t gone vegetarian, much less vegan, although I have friends and family members who have and I often wonder whether I should too. I do however think quite hard though about how to limit the amount of meat and dairy I eat.
Here are some of the steps I’ve taken:
I’ve started buying oat milk or some other non-dairy milk for my breakfast cereal.
Not adding milk to the copious amounts of coffee I drink while at work.
On weekdays, my general rule to myself is that lunch must be vegetarian, preferably dairy free to. The staff at the sandwich shop by my office are starting to recognise me and my requests for a houmous and salad baguette. Soup is always an easy option too!
Finding some really good meat free recipes to cook in the evenings at home. This week I have really enjoyed making and eating a shepherd’s pie, but with braised green lentils instead of mince. It was very tasty, and fed us as a family for a couple of days in a row. The children ate it too!
Sometimes we go to cook a meat/dairy based dish by default, but there are a lot of very tasty, easy to cook vegetable based meals out there waiting to be tried.
So have a shot at this month’s EcoChallenge and find a new veg based recipe. Personally, my goal is to find some good use for the Tofu now sitting in my fridge - I am thinking a noodle soup could be a good use for it. I will let you know how it goes!
If you want some inspiration this North African Squash Stew is one of my favourites – it’s very tasty comfort food.
Get involved with Woodlands People + Planet group
If you’d be interested in finding out more about our group, or have some feedback about the challenges, connect with us: